Something Old, Something Borrowed

Everyday things if they last long enough in good condition wind up more interesting to others than their owners. There is something backwards about that. Let us start by considering our own lives and contemporary customs. Yard and garage sales, and also estate sales which more specifically mean someone has died and left stuff, attractContinue reading “Something Old, Something Borrowed”

Do You Really DO All Your Own Research?

Perhaps you wouldn’t think that research on doing research would be a worthwhile study. My first reaction is that it seems a bit like monitoring and surveillance, someone studying the studiers. However, on further consideration it is no different from time and efficiency studies. Also, as Buckminster Fuller observed, many developments can happen by chance.Continue reading “Do You Really DO All Your Own Research?”

The Missing Linkages in AI

The Ghost Has No Intelligence Without Us Being There The enthusiasm about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to miss something, an obvious question, about the actual quality and character of AI-generated content and conversations. I have to think about this and express the actual problem accurately. The problem is less with AI thanContinue reading “The Missing Linkages in AI”

You Can’t Get There From Here

There are some faculties of human consciousness direct introspection cannot explain. For example, the way our minds make sense of words, concepts, and perceived phenomena. Sitting under a tree and reflecting directly on our experience of how we understand the difference between a chair we sit on and a chair on a board of directorsContinue reading “You Can’t Get There From Here”

The Smell of Sound

Some memories are faraway sounds in the night,Not country sounds of some agrarianUnlived life, old clothes out of photos belonging to no one.No, these are urban sounds of racing enginesMuch closer to homes actually lived in,Heard right now distantly, recalled from dreams,Yes, something from a dream. Old boxes you Happen to look inside as youContinue reading “The Smell of Sound”

More Than Some Total

A bouquet in a vaseSits on a mat outsideA neighbor’s door for days. The ribbon managementStuck on all our doors hangsWith similar intent. “Blessings of love and joyTo you!” The message standsIn place of more, a ploy. For “YOU are loved!” it saysAddressed to anyone inA season’s ghostly phrase. I read the ribbon’s lineWhile eatingContinue reading “More Than Some Total”